The present invention relates to a coating and developing method of resist coating by supplying a resist on the front face of a substrate, exposing it, and thereafter developing it by supplying a developing solution particularly for fabricating a color filter of a color liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like and an apparatus therefor.
A color filter of a color liquid crystal display (LCD) is fabricated by the so-called photolithography technology in which a rectangular substrate made of glass is coated with color resists of four colors (red, green, blue, and black), and is exposed and developed.
In the photolithography process of the color filter, coating, exposing and developing are performed for each of the color resists. More specifically, for example, a substrate after being scrubbed is coated with a red color resist, thereafter the red color resist is exposed and is sequentially developed. Next, the substrate after being scrubbed is coated with a green color resist, thereafter the green color resist is exposed and is sequentially developed. Then, similar processes are performed with respect to blue and black.
Accordingly, processing units for scrubbing, coating, exposing and developing are required for processing of each color, the processing units for scrubbing, coating, exposing and developing are continuously arranged, and processes are sequentially performed from upstream to downstream.
However, when one color filter is coated with a plurality of color resists by the coating and developing system as described above, processing units for scrubbing, coating, exposing and developing are required to provide for each of the colors. Moreover, a plurality of groups of processing units for scrubbing, coating, exposing and developing in correspondence with the number of colors must be provided. Therefore, there is a problem in the coating and developing system as described above in that the configuration of the apparatus becomes huge in size, which causes an increase in space occupied in a clean room, and also an increase in manufacturing cost.
The present invention is made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide a coating and developing method and an apparatus therefor in which reduction in size of apparatus and space savings can be achieved, and manufacturing cost can also be reduced in coating and developing a color filter and the like. Another object is to provide a coating and developing method and an apparatus therefor in which yields of products can be improved.
To solve the aforesaid problems, the first aspect of the present invention is characterized by steps of coating a substrate with a selected predetermined color resist out of a plurality of kinds of color resists; transferring the substrate coated with the predetermined color resist to an aligner; and developing the exposed substrate received from the aligner, in which after repeats of the above steps in due order, the substrate is housed in a cassette which can house therein a plurality of substrates.
A second aspect of the present invention is characterized by a coating and developing apparatus for coating a substrate with a plurality of color resists and for developing it after exposure, which comprises a resist coating unit having a plurality of resist discharge nozzles for respectively discharging the plurality of color resists to a substrate; and a developing unit for developing the substrate coated with the color resist after exposure.
A third aspect of the present invention is characterized by a coating and developing apparatus comprising a resist coating unit for coating a substrate with a selected predetermined color resist out of a plurality of kinds of color resists; a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate coated with the predetermined color resist to an aligner and to a developing unit for developing the exposed substrate received from the aligner, in which the resist coating unit includes at least one nozzle for discharging the plurality of kinds of color resists and a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the inside of the nozzle.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized by steps of coating a substrate with a selected predetermined color resist out of a plurality of kinds of color resists; transferring the substrate coated with the predetermined color resist to an aligner; and developing the exposed substrate received from the aligner, in which a coating processing of a plurality of color resists and developing processing after exposure thereof are performed, since the substrate is housed in a cassette which can house therein a plurality of substrates after repeats of the above steps in due order.
Accordingly, in the present invention, a plurality of color resists can be applied one after another and developed them after exposure by one coating and developing apparatus, so that reduction in size of apparatus and space savings can be achieved, and manufacturing cost can also be reduced.
Moreover, in the present invention, a plurality of color resists can be applied with high efficiency by using one resist discharge nozzle to each of a plurality of color resists for discharging the respective resists in the resist coating unit.
Furthermore, the present invention comprises a cleaning mechanism for cleaning the inside of the color resist discharge nozzle, whereby the color resist does not solidify in the nozzle, which can prevent a solidified color resist from being discharged onto a substrate G, resulting in improvements of product yields.
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be easily confirmed from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.